"A Rose for Emily"

"She carried her head high enough-even when we believed that she was fallen." (Faulkner-pg .32)
This passage stood out to me because it seems some things never change. People have a tendency to pass judgment on the worth of an individual. This passage seems to me to indicate a surprise by the townsfolk that Emily would dare still hold her head high. Like she was supposed to know that she was fallen-simply because they thought or said so. As if she was supposed to know that she had lost all dignity not only in their eyes but in herself. I admire that she still recognized her own worth & dignity regardless of what others thought or said, and refused to let others sway her belief in herself.
I've often wondered why we (and yes, most people do) find it necessary to question the worth of an individual largely based on their attitudes, opinions or experiences being different than ours. "Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people." (Faulkner-pg. 33) The fact that Emily had a "suitor" was at first a great joy to the town. Then people began to talk and possibly assume things about Homer Barron that made him unacceptable.
This is another example of the feeling of entitlement of being able to say what is or is not acceptable behavior. Simply because someone has different values than your own, does that mean yours are right and theirs wrong? Who gets to determine who is right? Is there a need for only one "right" answer? Maybe their values are different due to the way they were raised, or their environment. It's possible that in their world their values are right and someone else's more "conventional" values would be wrong.
Shouldn't the choices that one makes in their own life be their choices, not what others think they should be? We should all be able to hold our heads high in our choices as long as we believe they are the right choices for us.